198 THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



we soon detected the dim outline, only that its great height and extent 

 at first made it seem impossible that it could be a portion of the earth 

 upon which we stood. Well does it merit the high place which it 

 holds in the history and tradition of this region. 



Wind River appealed to me as one of the most beautiful streams I 

 had ever seen, and I cannot now recall one which I would place ahead 

 of it in this respect. It was perfectly clear, and the powerful volume 

 of water which it carried along with marvelous rapidity, now in deep 

 boiling pools and again spread out in sparkling ripples over the wide 

 gravel bars, -generally confined within banks of dense willows, and 

 overshadowed by groves of lofty cottonwoods, composed a scene which 

 left little tc be desired by the most critical observer of nature. 



The fact that we were upon an Indian reservation soon suggested 

 itself in explanation of the absence of habitation or cultivation in that 

 broad and fertile valley; but I then thought, and still think, that if I 

 were to have my choice of a tract of land in the State of Wyoming, I 

 should select it along the grove-do 'cted shores of Wind River in the 

 vicinity of Crow Heart Butte. * 



Union Pass, as a way of getting over Wind River Mountains, was 

 a distinct disappointment to me. Discovered in 1860 and used ever 

 since, frequently referred to in official reports as an exceptionally 

 easy pass, I had expected to find one of those low and gradual slopes 

 across the mountains which are always sought for as highways of 

 travel. Instead, we found at the northern approach an excessively 

 long and steep ascent which finally landed us on the bleak and barren 

 summit of a mountain, so obviously out of our desired course and so 

 much higher than the land to our right, where we ought to have gone, 

 that it excited considerable adverse comment among the party. The 

 accident which led to this peculiar choice was no doubt the open space 

 on the summit where the original discoverer was able to fix his bear- 

 ings from prominent points in the surrounding country. This was an 

 important matter at the time, but is no longer so, and it is to be hoped 

 that a better and more direct route will be selected when government 

 appropriation for this road is made advisable. 



The summit of the pass was without exception the windiest spot 

 we encountered, and from the oblique growth of all vegetation in the 

 vicinity, it was evident that the wind is blowing there most of the 

 time and in one direction. What connection, if any, this fact may 

 have with the name of the mountain and river is of course conjectural, 

 but I think few of our party would have doubted the propriety of 

 "Windy Pass" for the point where we crossed. 



The southern or western descent from the pass was a process 

 which no one could tell the end of. Crossing some of the headwaters 

 of the Gros Ventre, we passed over onto the watershed of Green 

 River and then swung back onto the Gros Ventre. The landscape 

 from the point where we overlooked the celebrated Green River was 



